When most people think of physical activity that helps them lose weight, they think of fast-paced cardio classes and crowded gyms. In fact, weight loss culture is mostly about being “hard” on yourself, pushing yourself to the limit, being “tough” enough to limit your calories and appetite. So how does a holistic, gentle and mindful practice like yoga fit into this paradigm? Indeed, yoga can help with weight loss, much to the surprise of many. To understand how yoga can help you lose weight, you need to recalibrate your perception of weight loss.
The Science of Weight Loss
The Science of Weight Loss
First, we need to have a general understanding of the science behind weight loss. The only real way for your body to lose weight is to be in a “calorie deficit”. This means that you burn fewer calories through activity, exercise, and everyday life than you take in through food. However, this is arguably at the root of the restrictive culture surrounding weight loss. The problem here is that while dieting in a calorie deficit can help you lose weight, it won’t solve the underlying problem of your weight gain. Addressing these underlying issues is important if you don’t want to stick to a restrictive diet or strenuous exercise program forever. These may include lifestyle factors such as mindset, diet, sleep and stress. For example, emotional eating can lead to overeating. A stressful job can cause an imbalance in the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in elevated cortisol and a slowed metabolism. A sedentary lifestyle can lead to a lack of muscle mass and a reduced ability to burn fat. When you think about weight loss from this perspective, you realize that there are more factors at play than just achieving a calorie deficit.
How Yoga Can Help You Lose Weight
By managing and rebalancing these factors, yoga can aid in weight loss. The following sections discuss the various ways yoga can help with weight loss, whether by helping to achieve a traditional calorie deficit or by addressing the factors underlying long-term weight loss.
yoga teaches mindfulness
yoga teaches mindfulness
Yoga is a practice that develops mindfulness — but what does “mindfulness” mean, and how does it relate to weight loss? Mindfulness is about being aware of the body and living in the present moment. Through mindfulness, the yogi frees his ego and can clearly see how and why he reacts to certain situations. An example related to weight loss is emotional eating. Emotional eating is very common and can lead to weight gain if eaten in excess.
The body is your temple. Keep it pure and let the soul live in peace. BKS Iyengar
After a stressful day at work, many people come home, collapse on the couch, grab a bag of chips and munch absently in front of the TV. Another common example of emotional eating is the stereotype of eating ice cream when you’re sad. Everyone is unique and has their own emotional eating habits. However, through yoga, yogis are able to develop mindfulness and increase awareness of eating habits. They become more sensitive to the foods that go into their bodies, whether those foods are nutritious, and how they make their bodies feel. As you begin to see your body as a sanctuary and instrument of life energy, it becomes increasingly important to fill it with mindfulness. In turn, this can help reduce overeating and emotional eating habits and aid in long-term weight management.
Regulates the stress response
Regulates the stress response
Many people don’t realize the extent to which stress can affect weight gain and obesity. Stress is said to be the root of all disease, and it certainly plays a role when it comes to weight management. But how does chronic stress lead to weight gain? Chronic stress can lead to dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis is a neuroendocrine system that is a major contributor to the body’s stress response due to the release of cortisol and other stress hormones by the adrenal cortex. The body gets stuck in “fight or flight” mode, turning its intrinsic goals toward survival rather than weight loss. People with elevated cortisol have high insulin levels, high blood sugar, and therefore weight gain, especially in the abdomen. Now when you look at traditional weight loss exercises that are fast paced, aerobic, and physically taxing, you may see problems with traditional weight loss systems. These types of workouts often add stress to an already chronically stressed body. The body asks to slow down and relax, and instead is punished and pushed to the max.
How can yoga help with this? Yoga helps the body regulate its stress response. Through several mechanisms such as mindfulness, meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, and lowering blood pressure, yoga can restore the body to normal stress levels. Numerous studies support this as one of the fundamental benefits of yoga practice. Over time, yoga can help reduce and prevent chronic stress, thereby modulating the HPA axis and rebalancing cortisol levels and aiding in weight loss.
Yoga can speed up your metabolism
Yoga can speed up your metabolism
When it comes to weight loss, the body’s metabolism is an important concept to understand. Metabolism refers to the chemical processes that occur in the body, primarily the ability and efficiency to convert food into energy. You may have heard people refer to themselves as “slow metabolizers” or “extensive metabolizers.” Slow metabolism converts less efficiently